ARMENIA BETS ON NATO
Samvel Martirosyan

Eurasianet
3/10/05

As part of its expansion into the South Caucasus, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) is taking a more active interest in
longtime Russian ally Armenia. A visit by NATO Secretary General
envoy Robert Simmons last month marked the high point for
Armeniaâ~@~Ys ties with the Western defense alliance, and Yerevan
seems eager to maintain the momentum.

Simmonsâ~@~Y February 23-24 visit at times appeared a careful
balancing act. In statements with Armenian Defense Minister Serge
Sarkisian, the NATO representative took care to emphasize that
stronger relations with NATO should not be cause for concern in
Moscow about the countryâ~@~Ys participation in the Collective
Security Treaty Organization, the post-Soviet defense alliance made
up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan and Russia.

“We do not compete in the region, but are building a constructive
partnership, including also [with] Russia, which is an active player
in CSTO [the Collective Security Treaty Organization],” Simmons told
reporters. “Armeniaâ~@~Ys participation in CSTO does not affect in
any way the degree of its relationship with NATO.”

To reinforce that line, emphasis was placed on collective initiatives
that have included Russian participation or an international focus
â~@~S in particular, the deployment of Armenian peacekeepers to
Kosovo and Iraq as well as contributions made by Yerevan to the
US-backed campaign against international terrorism. A group of NATO
consultants is scheduled to travel to Armenia to advise the Armenian
defense ministry on various defense programs, but details of this
assistance have not been released.

Nonetheless, NATO has not been reticent about carving out its own
niche in the region. In March 1 testimony before the US Senate Armed
Services Committee, NATO Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones
stated that the Caucasus has become a strategically important region
for the alliance.

“The Caucasus is increasingly important to our interests. Its air
corridor has become a crucial lifeline between coalition forces in
Afghanistan and our bases in Europe”, said Jones. “In addition to
maintaining our traditional lines of communication and access, we
seek access to new facilities and routine freedom of transit to the
Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Levant, and Africa in order to advance
U.S. national interests.”

As part of that initiative, NATO signed a transit agreement with
Georgia on March 2 that would allow the alliance to ferry supplies
for its International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan via
Georgian air space, roads and railways.

Over the past year, Armenia has been actively developing its own
cooperation with the collective, too. In November 2004, NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer paid an official visit to
Yerevan in which he described NATOâ~@~Ys relationship with Armenia as
“developing very well, indeed.” The government has turned a deaf ear
to public protests about the deployment of peacekeeping troops to
Iraq, and is currently at work on an Individual Partnership Action
Plan (IPAP), reportedly scheduled for release soon, that would form a
crucial first step toward eventual NATO membership. In September 2004
President Robert Kocharian appointed veteran diplomat Samvel
Mkrtchian to act as the countryâ~@~Ys representative to NATO
headquarters in Brussels, a position previously filled by
Armeniaâ~@~Ys Belgian ambassador.

But more than a desire to stay on the right side of the West â~@~S a
rising influence in the Caucasus — could drive Armeniaâ~@~Ys NATO
interest. A December 2004 poll by the Armenian Center for National
and International Studies showed that most Armenians favor membership
in both NATO and the expanding European Union. [For additional
information, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. One opposition bloc
â~@~S made up of the Liberal Progressive Party, the Republic Party
and former Foreign Affairs Minister Raffi Hovannisian â~@~S has
already been formed with the express intention of securing
Armeniaâ~@~Ys exit from the CTSO in favor of NATO and strengthening
Armeniaâ~@~Ys focus on the West.

Commenting on the results of Simmonsâ~@~Y visit, Armenian Defense
Minister Serge Sarkisian emphasized that further cooperation with the
defense collective is in the works. “Iâ~@~Yd like to once again state
that we are going to keep up the adopted direction and develop our
ties,” he stressed.

That cooperation, however, has not been without its stumbling blocks.
In June 2004, President Robert Kocharian refused to attend a NATO
summit meeting in Istanbul, citing strained relations with Turkey, a
NATO member state with which Armeniaâ~@~Ys dealings have long been
acrimonious. Nor have ties with fellow Partnership for Peace member
Azerbaijan proven particularly collegial. Much attention continues to
focus on an Azerbaijani military officerâ~@~Ys brutal axe murder of
an Armenian counterpart at a February 2004 Partnership for Peace
training session in Budapest. Fearing for their security, two
Armenian parliamentarians did not attend a November 2004 NATO seminar
in Baku.

Armeniaâ~@~Ys dispute with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh perhaps poses one of the largest obstacles to
further NATO cooperation, government officials say. “If we didnâ~@~Yt
have an unsettled conflict, we would have more opportunities to
participate in such programs,” the defense ministryâ~@~Ys press
service quoted Sarkisian as saying.

If meant as a diplomatic hint for NATO assistance with
Nagorno-Karabakh, however, the statement failed to secure a desirable
response. Simmons categorically rejected the notion that NATO might
dispatch peacekeeping troops to Nagorno-Karabakh in a bid to end that
conflict. “NATO does not directly participate in conflict resolution
and doesnâ~@~Yt discuss the issue of locating its peacekeeping forces
in the region.”

Editorâ~@~Ys Note: Samvel Martirosyan is a Yerevan-based journalist
and political analyst.

–Boundary_(ID_sfpAL/sUjt+lnWk+kh/B9g)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress